|
Welcome to today's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, July 6, 2003
In this Issue: All About Email
Special Feature: Avoid Common E-mail Errors
Special Feature: Undeleting E-mail
Special Feature: Compose E-mail Offline
Featured Webpage: Forward Part of an Email
Featured Computer Term: Emoticons
Featured Webpage: Email Hoaxes
This Week's Topic: How Does E-mail Work?
Featured Webpage: Ways To Stop Or At Least Minimize Spam
Question: Attaching Files
Special Feature: Downloading Email Attachments
Featured Webpage: Print Part of an Email
******************************************************************* ****
Using Links
A Link is a reference to a website. In this newsletter you will see links to many worthwhile, informative and fun websites. Here are the instructions on how to use links:
A link will be used one of two ways, depending on your email program.
If you see the link in blue, underlined text, all you have to do is click on it and a window with the Website in it will automatically appear on your screen.
If you see the link in plain text, you can copy and paste it into the address bar on your browser. Highlight the link with your mouse, click Edit up on the menu bar, and then click Copy from the menu that you just opened up. Open your browser (click the Start Button, point to Programs, click on Internet Explorer); click on the address bar. Click Edit up on the menu bar, and then click Paste from the menu that you just opened up. Press the Enter key on the keyboard and this will take you to the Website.
******************************************************************** ***
Special Feature: Avoid Common E-mail Errors
A typical e-mail address follows this basic format: yourname@domainname.extension.
Most addressing errors fall into these categories:
Typographical errors Check the e-mail address carefully to make sure you are typing it exactly as it was given to you.
Capitalization Some Internet addresses are case-sensitive. Try typing the address using all lower case letters.
Extra spaces Internet addresses contain no spaces. Some addresses may contain an underscore to separate two words, for example: firstname_lastname@site.domain
******************************************************************** ***
Please tell your neighbors, friends and family about our classes and our email newsletter.
If you would like us to send this newsletter to a friend, please send your name and their email address to sharpertraining@aol.com with the words Subscribe
to Newsletter in the subject line of the email.
If you think a friend or family member would like to attend our classes, we'll send them a printed list of upcoming classes. Send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: STSI - Class Schedule, 50 Lee Avenue, Babylon NY 11702.
******************************************************************** ***
Special Feature: Undeleting E-mail
Ooops! Just deleted the wrong email? Many email programs will let you un-delete an email.
America Online
Click on the Mail Center icon on your AOL Toolbar and select Recently Deleted Mail. From this list you can retrieve deleted e-mails from the last 24 hours.
Microsoft Outlook
Click deleted Items on the Folders pane on the left. All deleted emails will display in the right pane. Note: Once the emails are deleted from this folder, they can no longer be retrieved.
Other Email Programs
Look for the capability to switch folders. Is there an Inbox and a Deleted Items folder? If there is a Deleted Items folder, you’ll find deleted emails in there. If not, look for menus with labels such as Mail Settings.
******************************************************************** ***
Special Feature: Compose E-mail Offline
You can write your e-mail when you're not connected to America Online. This is a useful feature if you want to send several emails but don’t want to tie up your phone line for that length of time. Also useful if you have limited usage on AOL -you’re not using precious hours to type email. You can take as much time as you want composing your email and not have to worry about missing a phone call.
Open AOL as you usually do, but don't type in your password or click the Sign On button. On the toolbar you'll see that almost everything is dimmed except for the Write/Compose Mail icon; it is still available for use. Click on it; you’ll open the Write Mail window where you can start writing your email.
When you're finished composing your e-mail, sign on as usual. If you can’t see the Sign On window, click Window on the menu, then click Sign On. Once connected, you can send your email. If you can’t see your Write Mail window, click Window on the menu, then click Write Mail.
Question: That sounds like a great feature, but I don’t use America Online. Can I do this with my email program?
Answer: Try it and find out: Open your email program. Don’t sign on but see if you can open an email window like you usually do when you’re signed on. If you can, then you’ll be able to write your email, then sign on and send it.
Question: My email program doesn’t allow me to do anything without being signed on. Anyway I can do my emails off line?
Answer: Yes, there is. There are a few extra steps, but it might be worth it if you don’t have unlimited time with your Internet Service Provider or don’t want to tie up the phone line.
Here’s how:
Type your email in your word processing program. Type the entire email, and then copy it. Highlight the whole email (use the mouse or a shortcut is ctrl-a). Click Edit on the menu, and then click Copy.
Open your email program and sign on (it’s not necessary to close your word processing program but can if you’re done with it). Follow the steps to start an email. In the email window, click in the message area. Click Edit on the menu, and then Paste. This will put the text that you copied into the email window. Put in your intended recipient’s email address and send the email. Sign right back off and you’re done -and you were online for a very little time.
******************************************************************** ***
Featured Webpage: Forward Part of an Email
Question: I frequently receive emails that I would like to send on to someone else but the original email has all the names and addresses of the people it’s been sent to. How can I get rid of these and just send the part I want?
Answer: To learn how to do this, visit our website at this address:
http://sharpertrainingsolutions.com/html/forwardemail.html
******************************************************************* ****
Today's Computer Term: Emoticons
Emoticons are special characters that express emotions and gestures in messages. They represent human faces if you turn your head sideways.
Since human communication includes intonation and emphasis on particular words, non-verbal interaction will sometimes leave out the feelings that would otherwise be noted in a conversation. Emoticons, also known as smileys, are used to add these emotions to the written word.
The basic smiley: :) Tilt your head slightly to the left to see two eyes and a smiling mouth. The eyes are done with the colon key (beside the L) and the mouth is done with a closed parenthesis (on the zero key). A nose can be added with a hyphen (beside the zero key). :-)
Not happy with something? There’s a smiley for that -- :-(
A wink -- ;-)
Do you wear glasses? There’s a smiley for you - 8-)
Is there a computer term or phrase that you'd like to see an explanation of? Email it to sharpertraining@aol.com and we'll put the term and its definition in an upcoming newsletter.
******************************************************************* ****
Featured Webpage: Email Hoaxes
We periodically get emails from subscribers of this newsletter telling us about how they’ve been tricked into believing a virus hoax that they received by email, sometimes to the detriment of their computer (as in they just deleted a needed file). Don’t get fooled! Visit our website to learn how to spot email hoaxes:
http://sharpertrainingsolutions.com/html/hoaxes.html
******************************************************************** ***
Today's Topic: How Does E-mail Work?
E-mail is sent in the form of an Internet Protocol Packet. Your computer divides the e-mail message into smaller-sized chunks of data (packets) which are then sent out over the Internet. Almost anything can be put in an IP packet: e-mails, the text from a book, lines of code from a computer program, pictures of your kids, or sounds and music from your favorite video. IP packets are what travel across the Internet.
These packets not only carry the chunks of data (like an e-mail message), but they add on some additional information, too. A header, which is tacked on to the front of the IP packet, contains this extra information. The header contains the address of your computer which is sending the data (called the source address), the address of where the data is going (the destination address), and a number that verifies that nothing got lost along the way (called a checksum).
When your e-mail leaves your computer network (AOL for example), a router sends that message towards the destination. And towards means just that. Your computer network is not directly connected to your friend’s computer network.
There are actually several networks in between. (The Internet is a network of networks.) The router sends your message in the right direction. At the next network, your IP packet encounters the router on that network. It looks at
the destination address and forwards it on towards the next appropriate network. Your IP packet will go through several different networks and routers before it finally reaches its destination -even if you’re sending it to your next door neighbor.
What makes IP packet routing so amazing is how quickly these steps are accomplished. How long does all of this take? An IP packet sent from New York to Los Angeles, stopping at every router along the way, could take as little as two-tenths of a second to make the entire trip coast-to-coast.
The routers know where to send the email by the destination address that you input. The destination address is the e-mail address of the person you’re sending the e-mail to.
Just like everybody has a unique U.S. Postal service name and mailing address combination, each user on the Internet has a unique e-mail address - a name and address combination which nobody else has. E-mail addresses are in a different format than regular mail addresses, yet they tell a large amount of information in a small amount of space.
This is a typical e-mail address: President@Whitehouse.gov
President
The first part of the e-mail address is that person’s username, in this case, President. When someone logs on to the network, they must identify themselves by keying in their username, which has been set by the network administrator.
@
There can be people on the Internet with the same username (just like there are many John Smiths in the phone book) The @ symbol says that this username is located at the following computer address - the username has to be unique at that computer address. Everything that follows the @ sign is called the domain name.
Whitehouse
This part of the e-mail address is called the host name (the host name is part of the domain name). It identifies the name of the computer which this person is connected to.
.gov
The final part of the domain name - and of the entire Internet address - is a code indicating either the type of organization or the location of that host computer.
Following is a list of the seven organizational domains which you will find on the Net:
com Commercial company
edu Education Institution
gov Government
int International Organization
mil Military
net Network Gateway
org Nonprofit Organization
Some computers use geographical domains, which indicate its location rather than the function of the computer. For example:
au Australia
ca Canada
it Italy
mx Mexico
us United States
******************************************************************** ***
Featured Webpage: Ways To Stop Or At Least Minimize Spam
Spam, unsolicited junk email, is a problem. We all get it in our mailboxes and inboxes almost every day. Visit our webpage to learn some things that you can do to stop, or at least minimize, the junk.
http://sharpertrainingsolutions.com/html/spam.html
******************************************************************** ***
Question: Attaching Files
How do I attach a file to an email?
Answer: You can attach any file -- word processing documents, spreadsheets, graphics, photographs, programs, games, even sounds -- to an e-mail message.
Some service providers have a maximum size for a file attachment. You may need to check with your service provider.
Important: The recipient of your email and attachment must have software that is compatible with your file. For example, if you send someone a WordPerfect file, your recipient must have either WordPerfect or a word processing program capable of opening WordPerfect files. Also make sure the file is compatible with your recipient's computer; a Macintosh machine may not be able to read some Windows files, and vice versa. The first step to sending your file as an attachment is to save it in an easy to find location. Whether it’s a word processing document you typed, or a photo scanned into your computer, or any other type of file, to save it, click on File, and then Save.
In the Save As dialog box, click the arrow to the right of the Save in section and click on the folder named My Documents. This will place your document in the My Documents folder. Note: My Documents is usually the default folder for most applications.
Type a name for your document where it says File name. Note this name, because that’s how you’ll find the file later. Click the button in the lower right hand corner that says Save.
Start your e-mail program, and open a new e-mail. Fill out the e-mail address and subject section of the e-mail, and then look for an icon, button, or link (blue underlined text) that says Attach or Attachments. Note: In some email program, you may have to additionally click on the Browse button.
You will now see the same type of dialog box that you used when saving your file. Click the arrow to the right of the Look in section, and select My Documents.
You should now see your file listed under My Documents; if you have many files in the My Documents folder, you may have to scroll to see it. Click on the file and then on a button that will say either Open or Attach.
That file will now be attached to your email. Note: in some programs, AOL for example, you’ll have to click an additional OK button to return to your email window.
******************************************************************** ***
Special Feature: Downloading Email Attachments
E-mail may include separate files that have been attached to the e-mail message. File attachments are indicated in your New Mail window or Inbox pane by an icon that is different from the icon used to represent an email without an attachment. In order to see or use the attached file, you need to download it.
To download files:
Open the email with the file attachment.
Depending on the email program you use, you will see either a download button or the words download that you can click on. If neither of these appear, you will find Save Attachment in the File menu. After either clicking Download or File and then Save Attachment, note the name of the saved file and the folder in which you save it. Recommendation: using the My Documents folder will make your downloaded files very easy to find.
(In the Save As dialog box, click the arrow to the right of the Save in section and click on the folder named My Documents. This will place your document in the My Documents folder.) Click the Save button.
To find the file, double click on the My Documents icon on your desktop. Note: if you have many files in this folder, you may have to scroll to find the one you are looking for.
Important: When you download files, your computer is vulnerable to viruses. NEVER DOWNLOAD ANYTHING FROM ANYONE YOU DO NOT KNOW! Learn more about viruses at our website:
http://sharpertrainingsolutions.com/html/virusnewsarticles.html
******************************************************************** ***
Featured Webpage: Print Part of an Email
You don't have to print the whole thing. Print only a paragraph or two - or however much you want. Learn how at our website:
http://sharpertrainingsolutions.com/html/printemail.html
|
